This invention relates to an equilibrium dialysis system in a multi-well format for the simultaneous preparation of multiple samples. Such an equilibrium dialysis system can be used for protein binding assays, molecule-molecule interaction studies, tissue cultures and many other biological and chemical applications. The equilibrium dialysis system described herein has at least 96 wells for the simultaneous preparation of 96 samples and can also be made in 96-well, 384-well, 1536-well or other multi-well formats.
The present invention relates to an equilibrium dialysis system in a multi-well format for the simultaneous preparation of multiple samples. With rapid progress in drug screening and discovery and advances in biomedical research, equilibrium dialysis is becoming an increasingly important technique for protein binding assays, molecule-molecule interaction studies, tissue cultures and many other biological and chemical applications. In a standard equilibrium dialysis system, a semi-permeable membrane is present between two sample chambers; and, assays and interaction studies are performed through the flow of molecules through said membrane. Currently, many different types of equilibrium dialyzers are available for the preparation of samples. But, the equilibrium dialyzers currently available in the market are single well or single chamber systems designed for the preparation of a single sample at any given time.
Current and developing drug. discovery and biomedical research applications, such as high throughput screening, rely on the simultaneous preparation of large numbers of samples for the rapid purification and identification of desired molecules. and samples. In such applications, hundreds or even thousands of samples often need to be prepared simultaneously using techniques such as equilibrium dialysis. Therefore, there is a need for an equilibrium dialysis system for the simultaneous preparation of large numbers of samples.
As described above, equilibrium dialysis typically consists of two chambers separated by a semi-permeable membrane and has many different applications including binding assays and interaction studies. For example, to use equilibrium dialysis to conduct a binding assay, one sample chamber is filled with a protein sample. Said protein sample consists of molecules that are too large to pass through the pores of said membrane. The second chamber is filled with small molecules that can pass through the pores of said membrane. When this system is allowed to equilibrate, said small molecules will be present in both chambers, on each side of said membrane.
If said protein molecules bind said small molecules, the state of equilibrium will be affected such that more small molecules are present in the protein sample chamber than in the small molecule sample chamber. During and upon completion of equilibrium dialysis, quantitative and qualitative assays can be performed to further study the samples. The aforementioned method is frequently used in new drug discovery methods. Equilibrium dialysis can also be used to study DNA-protein interactions, receptor binding assays and many other interactions between bio-molecules and other molecules.
In the present invention, we describe an equilibrium dialysis system in a multi-well format for the simultaneous preparation of multiple samples with applications including but not limited to high throughput screening, binding assays and bio-molecule interactions. One of the most common multi-well formats currently used is the 96-well format. The present invention describes equilibrium dialyzers in 96-well, 384-well, 1536-well and other multi-well formats.
The various features of novelty which characterize the present invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its advantages and objects, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.